Transportation, Expo, and Campaign Finance On Council’s Desk

Posted May. 10, 2011, 2:47 am

Parimal M. Rohit / Staff Writer

Several key issues ranging from transportation and the Exposition Light Rail Line to business signage, homelessness, campaign finances, and parking structures will be discussed at City Hall as the Santa Monica City Council holds its bi-weekly public meeting tonight.

In a public hearing item, the council will take a look at a line-by-line analysis of the Big Blue Bus’s (BBB) three-year service improvement plan and consider “alternative analysis for transit connections to the three Exposition Light Rail Line (Expo) stations in the city.

Meanwhile, council members will also be considering a first reading of a potential ordinance allowing Santa Monica-area “businesses to use different types of signage to create a greater identity, including reader boards to market wares and/or services to the public that are not located within the public right-of way.”

Regularly a major issue with the City’s residents and visitors, the council plans to discuss homelessness as part of a study session presentation on the status of a range of regional homeless issues. As part of the presentation, council is expected to consider funding priorities for Veterans to Home (Project 60), which is part of United Way’s Home for Good and Continuum of Care.

Campaign finance is also on tap for the council, as the board will consider a staff recommendation to amend the City’s campaign contribution restrictions to keep pace and stay consistent with recent developments in First Amendment case law.

Another study session agenda item is an update on the visioning process and recently-conducted planning workshops for the City-owned site on Fourth and Fifth Streets just south of Arizona Avenue. According to the staff report, the City-owned site “presents a unique opportunity to extend the successful downtown urban core to the north and create community amenities within complementary mix of uses and parking in a new downtown development.”

The council will call the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. in its chambers before heading into closed session; the public portion of the Council meeting will not begin until at least 6:30 p.m.